Hester Shaw (Regime)
Hester Shaw (sometimes known as Hester Natsworthy) is from Mortal Engines. In the fictional alternate Regime universe, she is the savage High Councillor, leader of her own Shivan Regime, with its center in the TRAPPIST-1 System. History Early life Hester was born on Oak Island, on planet TRAPPIST-1g. When she was around seven years old, Freeport criminal boss Antonio Mancini attacked her parents, specifically her mother Pandora, under orders from Elexis Sinclaire, owner of TRAPPIST-1e's largest multi-national biotechnology corporation known as SinTEK. Both her mother and David Shaw, the man Hester thought to be her father, were killed. Hester disturbed Mancini while he was killing her mother. Flustered, Mancini swung around and struck Hester's face with his sword, causing her to fall back down the stairs and leaving her with scars that would last her entire lifetime. Confused, she ran away, followed by Mancini's men. Mancini achieved his objective and left, thinking she was dead. Hester got on her parents' boat and left, hoping to find a doctor. She woke up on the shores, where she was found by Shrike, a Shifter. She spent the rest of her childhood living with Shrike. Hester also accompanied Shrike on his bounty hunting trips. One target was Lardy Ampersand, a bank robber. After carrying out the killing, Shrike and Hester went back to collect their bounty, only to find the city celebrating the festival of Midwinter. Mayor Pilbeam, accompanied with two slavers from SinTEK, had Shrike trapped in a net. Hester cut down a festive pine tree, crushing the assailants, and she and Shrike arrived at the Town Hall. They found a warm fireplace and food, and reminisced on the day. Ascension to power After several years, Hester left to carry out revenge against Mancini, finally making it on TRAPPIST-1e, where Mancini was preparing to start a bank heist on behalf of Sinclaire. There, Hester posed as a citizen on Freeport and a bank heist occured shortly thereafter, and HardCorps sent Colonel John Blade, backed by his hacking partner, J.C. Armack, there. During this heist, Hester tried to kill Mancini, but Tom blocked the blow and chased her through the city. In order to escape HardCorps, she jumped down through Freeport's sewers. Mancini then pushed Tom after her. Elexis only intended for Mancini to steal a safety deposit box from the bank's vault, and upon learning that he launched a full-scale heist instead, she injected him with concentrated U4, transforming him into a mutant, and sent him after Blade and Hester. After Blade killed the huge creature, she discovered a drug called "U4". Blasting her way into SinTEK's main headquarters around the same time as Blade, Hester killed Elexis by stabbing her through her chest. She didn't pursue Gianni Manero and Viktor Radek. She instead returned to the Jenny Haniver. Hester tried to comfort Tom, who was guild-ridden and in shock from the outcome of events occured on Elexis's henchmen. As they both realised that they had nothing left but their vessel, they began their new life together as dictators. At the same time, Hester related all conflicts to her own tragedy and became aware about big people ruining too many lives all the time. She decided to put a stop to this, so she ordered Tom to draft up the documents necessary for the establishment of her Regime. Hester moved onto newer forms of arms progression and commissioned Gabriel Kantor to create Project Bespin, resulting in a new line of Bespin heavy armed stormers, similar in respect to the UGSF counterparts. If successful, the project would allow the Regime to conduct long-range strikes against "big people" she was standing up to with a minimized loss of fleet assets. Tom and Hester visited the nebula system beyond Gamma Draconis in search of the Shivans for some time before being able to communicate with a Shivan task force, accompanied by the UIMS ships, which met with them in the nebula. At the same time, Hester discovered a new type of Chronon-based life form, Shifters, as she believed that it would be better to become a Shifter and lose her memories and feelings. From the Jenny Haniver, Hester saw Blade infiltrating her outpost with a small strike team consisting of several HardCorps officers, including recruit Jessica Cannon. Enraged at not only the violation of her home and the danger her belongings are in, Hester ordered their battleship to open fire and deploy forces. Hester was forced to go down to the surface and take her fight to Jessica. She and the HardCorps recruit fought in the Hunting Ground's plain fields, with Jessica successfully bringing Hester to her knees. As Jessica prepared to deliver the final blow, novice Megan Heinick comes to Hester's aid, slicing through Jessica's back with her sword. Jessica, realizing she would detonate herself and take anyone with her, tried to remind Hester of making the right choices. Refusing to listen, Hester tried to break Jessica's hand that held her by the neck. Chiding Hester and reminding her that she's already as good as dead, Jessica ran with a struggling Hester in tow, Freya hot on their heels. Hester managed to force off Jessica with a pepper spray and escaped before Jessica's detonation. After Jessica's death, Hester radioed Tom to prepare for her immediate extraction before heading for her outpost. Hester then fought against the HardCorps officers. During the fight, May Vera-Llechtim tried to impede Hester with her Chronon abilities, but Hester killed her. However, one of the Regime officers informed Hester that Blade and his team escaped with her belongings. When they reached Freeport, Hester immediately attacked HardCorps HQ, just as Blade and J.C. had begun to discuss the findings. She shut down the power in the building, and personally injured Blade. UGSF Lieutenant Jack Joyce then arrived, having responded to the attack. He knocked Hester down and repeatedly beat her up. She regained consciousness and escaped just in time before more HardCorps officers showed up. The next day, a still bruised Hester announced that their way of life was being threatened, before revealing that the 'terrorist' group HardCorps had stolen a powerful weapon and that he intended to use it against them. Hester proclaimed to the gathered leaders that she and her people would stand against Blade and other big people. Consolidation of power Hester was called to the UGSF vessel Hannibal by its commanding officer, Admiral Elliot Swann, who was accompanied by a delegation of officers from the UGSF, the GTVA, the Army of Light and the Coalition. Swann explained that he arrived at TRAPPIST-1g as a friend and ambassador, seeking to give advice, which was for her to stop what she was doing. Hester asserted she was just standing up to "big people" but Swann countered that she was controlling them. When Hester insisted the Admiral was one of them, Swann reminded her that he was not with them and Hester agreed before saying that her family was killed by arrogant leaders who refused to act when needed, and that she would not allow that to happen again. After Swann explained the authority of the UGSF and lamented how the hardest choice was sometimes not using that power and insisted the independence of the people of TRAPPIST-1 without interference, Hester was suddenly urged by Tom via her earpiece to ask the question. Hester suddenly asked whether the UGSF and the GTVA allowed SinTEK's actions. Swann's silence was enough of an answer. Enraged at being lectured, Hester called Swann out for dooming her planet and her people. Swann claimed that her family doomed themselves. Hester also claimed that Swann wanted the monsters of the universe to run free, but Swann insisted that they would not let her rule the people of TRAPPIST-1. Infuriated, Hester asked if that was a threat. Swann called it a warning. The officers tried to calm the two down but Hester ordered Swann to leave her system along with the GTVA forces. Disappointed, Swann complied, and ordered Hester to get off from his own ship. Leaving the Hannibal, Hester was approached by the Shivans, who apologized to her about the countless destruction of races eons ago and assured her that everything was going to plan. Hester accompanied Tom to the planet TRAPPIST-1f where they were placing the first of their newly created soldiers with her likeness into the city to help bring freedom and order to the cosmos. Realizing the operatives from the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Intelligence and Special Operations Command had come for her just as the Shivans warned her they would, Hester and Tom left for the south pole, the location where the SOC team was likely to arrive. When Hester and Tom arrived at the south pole, over two dozen SOC operatives landed in front of the them, with Lieutenant Liam Burke peacefully greeting them before telling her that the GTVA Security Council wanted to talk to her in Beta Aquilae. Hester rejected, stating that she was doing important work and refused to leave. Liam told her he had orders to bring her in and that he wanted to do it without trouble. One of Hester's soldiers suddenly asked to know where Lorna Simms was, and Hester demanded to know what they've done with her before unflinchingly watched as a cluster of bombs rained down, completely engulfing the SOC team. Hester thought that the SOC team were finished as Liam survived the blast, before charging Hester head on, the rest of his SOC operatives going after Tom and Hester's soldiers. Liam attacked Hester, but she easily used her Chronon abilities to dodge. Hester then started choking Liam, boasting of her Chronon abilities to move faster, and a split-second later Hester fell, letting go of Liam, who then chided Hester for underestimating him before revealing he had tranquilizer darts to incapacitate Hester. Hester could do nothing as her allies were subdued and captured, but before the SOC operatives could cart them off to Beta Aquilae, the Shivans and the Unknown Intellectual Mechanized Species arrived, destroying the Neurotic Velocity, and giving Hester a chance to recover as her allies freed themselves. During the continuing battle, Hester was bombarded on all sides by Emily Burke and her operatives and she was held by the neck by Liam, but she forced him back with an intense blast of Chronon energy. Before Hester and Liam's battle can intensify, Lorna arrived and intervened, ordering him to stand down. Suddenly, Shivans arrived, and Liam ordered his squad to stop fighting before telling Hester that they gave up and request to leave with their wounded and dead and return to Beta Aquilae. The SOC operatives were captured, and Tom argued with Hester that they must be exterminated less they challenge her rule again. Fox objected this, though when one of the Shivans started to torture Liam and Emily for speaking out, she quickly intervened and warned the Shivans to cease, knowing that if wouldn't kill them, she should at least keep them as prisoners of war. Agreeing, Hester ordered the SOC operatives to surrender with no harm done to them. Liam and his team complied, but he warned Hester of the eventual retaliation for this by the GTVA, UGSF, Army of Light and Coalition. Hester then responded that they were not welcome in TRAPPIST-1 and they wanted them gone. The war begins Waiting for the invaders Several months later, Hester delivered an announcement from TRAPPIST-1g, with the Shivans and the UIMS by her side, revealing to the planet's people that a war was coming to their planet tomorrow. Hester declared that they did not start this war but that their world will be attacked by agents of "big people" running the GTVA, UGSF, Coalition and Army of Light, with Hester herself claiming they sought to overturn everything that she had done. Hester reminded how she stood up to big people of SinTEK and Freeport and how she had placed more of her Regime soldiers and fleets in these areas to keep the peace. Hester proclaimed to the people that it would have been all for nothing if the GTVA and the UGSF succeeded in defeating her and regaining control of TRAPPIST-1g, as well as her allies. She then urged the people of TRAPPIST-1g to join in opposing these invaders, as well as to get out and fight for their future. The people were rallied by Hester's speech, never realizing she had effectively convinced them to act as nothing but human shields. Hester and Tom were onboard the Jenny Haniver with the Shivans and UIMS to battle against the combined GTVA, UGSF, Coalition and Army of Light, headed by Captain Martin Hatch, Commander Anton Slavik and Lieutenant Paul Serene. Paul made one last warning for Hester herself to give up her rule and turn herself for trial on Beta Aquilae, but she demanded the fleets to leave. Paul attempted to remind her of the nature of the Shivans and the UIMS, but Hester only asserted that the Shivans and UIMS were useful, and she would gain new allies. He pleaded to her that they could stop the war with just words but Hester accused Paul of being an embarrassment to not only her, but also TRAPPIST-1 and the galaxy. Enraged, Paul closed communications channels to Hester and every ship followed suit. The combined UGSF-GTVA-Coalition-Army of Light forces attacked, and Hester led the charge of the Shivan and UIMS ships, but they were destroyed in short order by the fighters. Regime High Command soon contacted the commanding officers of the Jenny. Hester informed Command that many Shivan and UIMS forces were wiped out. Hester then ordered Command to prepare the Regime fleet to intervene before ordering all Shivan and UIMS forces to pull back into the orbits of TRAPPIST-1g, TRAPPIST-1f, TRAPPIST-1e and TRAPPIST-1d. She ordered the UIMS and Shivans to work in stretching the combined UGSF-GTVA-Coalition-Army of Light forces out to make them more vulnerable. Embroiled in a state of war Hester grinned as her Ravana began killing pilots in short order when the Hannibal, under the command of Admiral Swann, arrived, intervening and saving the pilots life by destroying a Ravana. Telling Hester she has done enough damage and that they would allow her to do no more, Swann ordered all fighters to concentrate fire on the Jenny Haniver with a massive barrage of torpedoes and missiles, before using Chronon abilities to completely disable the battleship, but not destroy it. While Tom contacted Command to send in a repair crew to get the battleship in working order, a barely conscious Hester managed to board the Shivan Azrael, only for it to be shot down after entering TRAPPIST-1e's atmosphere. A confused Hester tried to orient her Azrael when she herself was struck by more missiles. Looking for her newest attacker, she spotted the anti-AA mobile platform and a Chronon dampener. As she realized now who was truly behind the war she found herself in, Hester snarled Blade's name, before parachuting down, killing an operator and disabling the dampener. Just as Hester observed around her surroundings, she was completely unprepared for the sudden attack that besieged her. Bitterman, a HardCorps officer, emerged, wearing a Chronon harness that allowed him to overcome Hester's Chronon abilities. A wounded Hester looked across at Bitterman, and imploringly said to him that she never wanted to hurt him and anyone. He only told her to shut up and that her pleading was outrageously pathetic, reminding her that she was a very kind person on the planet and to stop pretending it was someone else's fault for everything to blame. When the HardCorps officer told her that he's glad Mancini and her parents died before they could see her like this, Hester became enraged and grabbed Bitterman by the neck, snarling that he couldn't stop talking about her parents and Mancini. He suddenly asked Hester if she remembered what she did during the bank heist a year prior before shooting her in the chest with a tranquilizer-tipped bullet. A shocked and weakened Hester was left completely vulnerable as Bitterman swiftly kicked her across the jaw, knocking her over. Bitterman then revealed that he purposefully avoided shooting her in a vital area on purpose, telling Hester that he promised Blade he would grant her mercy. He then proclaimed to Hester that the Shivans and the UIMS would fall without her, along with everyone else that bought into her twisted dream, and that TRAPPIST-1g had fallen and her allies had been taken and hidden, with no one coming to rescue her, before turning his back to call Serene to send Swann in to get Hester off the planet for trial on Beta Aquilae and Gaia. However, as he did this, an unidentified Shivan-UIMS hybrid drone flew over towards Hester. The drone disassembled itself into body armor parts which immediately placed themselves on Hester's body, forming a Augmenter/Battlizer armor, and she quickly used it to remove a tranquilizer bullet out of her body while Bitterman watched in stunned horror. Hester then rose up, armed with a bisento as her armor glowed with the red light and Chronon energy. He then pulled out a gun and shoot her, but the shots ricochet off her armor. The newly empowered Hester then used her Chronon ability to rush and take down Bitterman with her bisento, causing him to fall over, fatally wounded. She then stood silently over the dying HardCorps officer watching him struggle to face her, when he revealed his final trump card: A head-cam that had recorded their entire encounter real-time and are now streaming the images across the system. He declared that he could no longer hide behind her facade to disguise the more gentle and shy girl and that while she may kill them all, everyone in the galaxy will know she was not their savior and will fear her. Infuriated, Hester ordered Tom to prepare for immediate extraction. Confrontation with Swann When they reached space, Hester ordered Tom to fly to where she thought he would be safe. Hester then boarded the Hannibal and proceeded to kill the crew, but was eventually fired upon with a BFG-9000. She destroyed a BFG blast, and, snapping the neck of another crewmember, demanded to know that Swann wanted this before blasting another crew member that had been sneaking up on her. Hester ranted about many of them die, indicating the carnage of dying people across the system, and personally killed Campbell. Within moments, Hester and the Shivans entered the bridge, the surviving UGSF-GTVA-Coalition-Army of Light fleets in retreat as they confronted Swann, who revealed to her that he would have prevented the Oak Island and SinTEK incidents had he was present when the U4 crisis happened. Now convinced of Hester's threat not just to TRAPPIST-1, but systems beyond it as well, Swann prepared to use his Chronon abilities to unleash a blast of Chronon energy and unleashed his power, forcing both Shivans back in defense, but Hester's new skills were too much for him to handle. Snatching the Admiral by his neck, Hester rushed towards the bridge controls with Swann in tow. She then set the ship's autopilot to crash into the sun. A shocked Swann demanded to know what Hester was doing, and she roared that she would neither allow him to threaten TRAPPIST-1 nor let him take her home from her again. Still flying further away from TRAPPIST-1e, the Admiral futilely told Hester that she couldn't do this. Hester succeeded in setting Hannibal to its destination: The star itself. As the ship began to burn around them and Swann looked up at him in fear and desperation, Hester said to Swann that she would deal with the UGSF, GTVA, Army of Light and Coalition sooner enough. With that, Hester managed to escape before Hannibal plunged into the star, destroying the UGSF vessel and simultaneously killed Swann. She then returned to TRAPPIST-1g, and, upon seeing that the UGSF Dragoon IISes Hera Hilmar and the Anna Popplewell escaped with the surviving HardCorps personnel, she ordered the bombardment of every TRAPPIST-1 planet. One of Hester's confidantes noted that the Dragoon left the system before Regime forces could determine where it came from, and that recent intelligence that the UGSF were building and fielding ships that specifically attacked their assets. She ordered her confidante to alert all fleet commanders of that vessel, as well as to speed up on Project Bespin. Hester discovered that she was pregnant. New alliances After being married and giving a birth to a daughter named Wren Natsworthy, Hester informed the Regime troops outside of the burned ruins that there was something unusual. She examined the debris, one of which appeared to be belonging to an otherworldly distant race. When one of the officers asked about the origins of that particular object, Hester merely snarls the answer, the Vishnans. Now with all of the Obsidian Dominion, Shadows Alliance, Bosconian, Battura and Sadeen resources at her disposal, Hester began focusing her vengeance on the UGSF, GTVA, Coalition and the Army of Light. Upon learning about the TRAPPIST-1 Detention Complex Uprising, Hester and her generals depart TRAPPIST-1g in the Kismat. One of the Shivans opened fire, ruining the complex. Before that, she was responsible for sortieing a Bosconian fleet to attack the Kilrathi homeworld of New Kilrah. She would later capture and face off against Paul Serene in a one-on-one sword duel, but would lose the chance to exact her vengeance when they were both attacked by the Shivans. Hester killed several Shivans with ease and left the others to the Hellcat Squadran, promising to destroy them. She would continue to attack UGSF, GTVA, Coalition and Army of Light multiple times, and at one point killed the leader of the TRAPPIST-1e protests, Paxton Fettel. She even had Galaga restored only for them to rebel against her and eventually be destroyed by the combined might of the UGSF and Hellcat Squadran. Andromeda Campaign Seven years after the death of Elexis Sinclaire, Hester decided to launch an attack on Andromeda Galaxy, starting the Andromeda Campaign. She launched an attack on Corneria and Tarn-Vedra, capital of the Systems Commonwealth. Regime dissensions Although tolerated by her fellow people, she was still regarded as a galactic tyrant for her overt rule that killed millions of people. She had also developed a strained relationship with Wren. Kate Ogawa, one of the Regime troopers, informed Hester of Wren's plan to leave the Regime for the Vishnans. Hester arrived at Kepler-62f and killed several Vishnans, but could not prevent the aliens from kidnapping Wren. Hester, Tom, Freya, Kane and Kate travelled to the unknown regions of space to try and find Wren. Instead, they encountered several Shivan vessels, who informed them of the Vishnan's plans to invade the Regime. Hester and Tom then continued on in another Shivan Kismat, while Freya and Kate returned to TRAPPIST-1g with the children. After arriving at the Vishnan installation, Tom and Hester split up. After learning that Wren had been captured by the Vishnans, Hester infiltrated Betruger's hideout. After coming across a fictionalised image of herself, she learned that she had been featured in Pennyroyal's bestseller Predator's Gold. At the top storey of the hangar bay, she found a flight-ready HRBs Jenny Haniver. When she returned to the designated meeting place, however, she learned that Tom and his contingent of Regime troops had gone directly to the Vishnans to ask for Wren's release. Deducing that he had been captured himself, she waited until nightfall before fighting her way to the Vishnan installation. There, she found several cages of people, who she released to create a distraction. She then broke Tom and every captive out of the installation, slaughtering the rest of the Vishnan guards. Arriving again at the Betruger hideout, Hester fired the beam cannons from the Jenny, creating a wall opening to fly out into space. Despite Tom's begging, she left the captives behind in the gallery, but reluctantly promised to return to them after collecting Wren. After finding and reuniting with Wren, Hester found Betruger and knocked him to the ground. Wren, Kane and the generals intervened, telling Hester and then Tom that she knew that Hester had led the Shivans and the UIMS into the system. Kane also deduced that Hester's continued alliance with the Shivans were a threat to him. Unable to deny the truth, Hester told her husband and daughter and others to leave, then made her real motive known. The tyrant informed the assembled generals, including Rebecca Fox, who objected the purpose of the Regime, that she was the only leader of the Regime, and killed all but Kane and Noemi. However, she was unable to kill all of the retreating anti-Shivan forces, who fled on the HRD Vehement, Laporte's capital ship, so she fled. She came across a waiting Shrike, who held her as the Vishnan Preserver collapsed, then carried her away into the unknown. Post-Regime But death wasn't the end of Hester. Four years after the fall of her Regime, she resurfaced, killing the pilot of a Dragoon J2 sent to investigate. Boarding the Dragoon, she was attacked by a squadron of Gaia fighters. Shooting down all fighters, she traveled to Gaia along with the dissenting UGSF officers. Hester managed to set the Dragoon to crash-land on Gaia, then parachuted down to the surface. She and her squad began to attack the UGSF troops. While fighting and defeating almost all of the UGSF soldiers, she went inside the government building, killing the last wave of heroes and started to fight the UGSF leadership. She killed every leader, and assuming the title. Legacy A Unknown Intellectual Mechanized Species Descent Large Battleship was named after her. Not long after that, this ship came under attack, and got T-boned by a SSJ Gigas super-juggernaut. Physical Appearance Hester has long, copper coloured hair and grey eyes. Mancini describes her as having been a "pretty child". However, she has been extremely disfigured by Mancini's sword attack: a deep scar cuts across her face, twisting her mouth and destroying her nose. She has also lost an eye. John Blade, the Joyce brothers, Paul Serene and the Doom Slayer refer her to as the bitch. Even Elliot Swann refers to as a kid. Characteristics Personality To the onlooker, Hester presents an intimidating persona: angry, hateful, and violent, with a fierce temper. Those who take the trouble to get to know her, such as her friend, lover, and later husband Tom Natsworthy, realise that this is a facade to disguise the more gentle and shy girl she would have been had life not treated her so badly. However, Hester undeniably feels little or no remorse from killing or injuring others, usually in self-defence or to protect those she loves. As Hester ages, she becomes harder and does not seem to care for people outside her family. She is willing to betray one of her generals to achieve her goals. She works as an assassin, and what makes her good at the profession is not her skill with weapons, but her ability to kill without remorse. Chronon Abilities Hester is identified as a "Shifter", an individual affected by Chronon particles, which allows them to exist and move freely within stutters in time. When Hester was exposed to the Chronon particles, she learned she could manipulate the Chronon field around her after a violent burst of energy prevented her enemies from shooting her daughter to death. Following this discovery, Hester began to manipulate and control time itself at will. As a shifter, Hester's ability allows Hester to become a blur while dashing, presumably moving fast enough outside the a normal time flow. Additionally, she can create shields to protect herself or freeze an isolated pocket of time to halt anything. Hester's powers allow her to operate within stutters in time; she can pull objects or people also affected by Chronon particles stuck inside the Zero State into her sphere of influence. If the individual or object has not been affected by Chronon particles, she cannot free them from the stutter. Hester's Chronon abilities grow stronger and develop the more she uses them. However, like all shifters, she runs the risk of being negatively affected by the Chronon energy, and eventually will require treatment to maintain a single, solid form in and out of stutters. Hester is a far more proficient Shifter than anyone else with Chronon abilities. After second exposure to Chronon particles five years and six months before the fall of the Regime, however, Hester developed what her scientists regarded as Chronon Syndrome, an illness that required Chronon-based treatments to keep it at bay. Hester began to experience fits of rage and paranoia, yet was able to control her multiple selves and maintains her physical self in the present timeline with the use of eyedrops infused with Chronon. She has the same manipulative grasp over time as they do. As a shifter, Hester is incredibly hard to kill. Various scenarios of her death may occur, but because she lives in a state of superposition, she will always appear to come back from the dead so long as her other forms survive. Relationships Her family includes her husband Tom and daughter Wren Natsworthy. It is believed by anyone that her parents are Pandora and David Shaw. According to Galactic Terran-Vasudan Intelligence and HardCorps reports, however, her father, is Antonio Mancini himself, who had worked with her mother before she married. An old friend of Hester's is Martin Cross. He regards her as a daughter. Quotes "Do you really think this would stop my reign?" - Hester taunting IceBite "After all this time, why do you persist and try to stop me?" - Hester mocking John Blade "My Regime is hard to overthrow. It will last forever. And you will last no longer, you ugly space bug!" - Hester to Queen Galaga Category:Corrupt Heroes Category:Inferno Regime-Verse